Iona

The prestige of Iona began in AD 563 when the Celtic bishop Columba and his twelve companions sailed from Ireland to found a monastery here and used it as a base from which to convert the Picts to Christianity. The monastery was attacked and burned six times by Vikings and was eventually abandoned in favour of Kells in Ireland.

lona was occupied again in 1203 as a Benedictine monastery, but it fell into ruin during the Reformation when symbols of the Roman Catholic faith came under attack.